Decorated spa &amp; tub construction and method of manufacture

ABSTRACT

An aesthetically pleasing spa or jetted bath tub having a preferably vinyl film, with indicia thereon applied to the underside of the spa body, either alone or with the addition of paint upon the vinyl film or upon uncovered areas of the spa body, prior to the application of the fibreglass lay up to the spa body. The method of manufacture of the spa is also disclosed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention pertains to the manufacture of acrylic and fibreglass spas & tubs for home and business.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Acrylic spas or hydro spas, as they are sometimes called, with Fibreglass underlayment have been on the market for many years. These spas utilize, as the spa body, acrylic sheets available from Rohm and Haas, DuPont and perhaps other vendors. The acrylic sheets that are used to form the body of the spa by vacuum forming have been available in solid colors and clear-water white, and in marbleized colors. Manufacturers have not used colorless material or water white sheets very much as the fibreglass underlayment sometimes shows through, and whether this does or does not happen, the appearance of the spa is basically blah. So, the clear material has been generally avoided.

[0003] Applicant has devised a new method making vacuum formed spas that take advantage of the substantially clear colorless material to provide aesthetically extremely pleasing spas that can be mass-produced or one of a kind works of art for individual use. In essence, what has been deemed, in general, to be a negative characteristic has been turned around to become a positive one.

[0004] The process of achieving these art masterpieces forms the subject matter of this patent application. The patent application also covers the end products of the mass-produced and individual one of a kind spas and jetted bath tubs. Thus, theme spas & tubs can be produced having a big G clef, for example, for a musician or a scale of justice for a lawyer.

[0005] The invention accordingly comprises the device possessing the features properties and the relation of components which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

[0006] For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be made to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] A process for making mass-produced decorated spas &jetted bath tubs and a process for making individual uniquely decorated specimen spas and tubs that are one of a kind are recited. The spas feature an interposed layer of decorated vinyl sheeting bearing indicia thereon between the acrylic layer and the fibreglass layer. The vinyl may be used as is or it may be custom-made for a one of a kind creation. Thus, it is seen that:

[0008] It is a first object to provide a process for the manufacture of unique one of a kind spas & jetted tubs.

[0009] It is a second object to provide a process for manufacturing uniquely decorated mass-produced spas & jetted tubs.

[0010] It is a third object to provide spas & tubs that carry a theme related to the purchaser.

[0011] It is a fourth object to provide spas & tubs that use standard fibreglass lay up techniques to achieve uniquely decorated spas.

[0012] Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0013]FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a prior art spa.

[0014]FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a typical spa prior to installation.

[0015]FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the mode of construction of the mass-produced spas of this invention.

[0016]FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the layers used in the construction of one of a kind personalized spas according to the invention.

[0017]FIG. 5 is a plan view of a typical hand painted betta decoration used in preparation of custom spas of this invention.

[0018]FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 all illustrate typical custom hand painted indicia used in the decoration of spas made according to this invention.

[0019]FIG. 9 is a bottom plan view of a vacuum formed acrylic spa body prior to the overlay of fibreglass, but subsequent to the application of decorative vinyl film carrying decorative indicia.

[0020]FIG. 10 is a similar bottom plan view of a vacuum formed acrylic spa body prior to the overlay of fibreglass, but this one contains unique one of a kind decoration applied prior to the fibreglass step.

[0021]FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the process of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0022] In FIG. 1, there is shown a sectional view of a typical prior art spa. This same prior art spa is shown in top view in FIG. 2. Thus spa 10 has two main layers, the outer acrylic layer, 11, and the inner or underneath fibreglass layer 12. As with almost all spas, it features a set of steps 15 that double as a seat with a back and a second seat 17. A drain 18 in the bottom connects to piping 19 for both discharge and recycling. Jets 20 are shown at various arbitrary locations on the visible acrylic outer layer. There is no criticality for the purposes of this invention as to the location of the jets.

[0023] In FIG. 3, there is shown a diagrammatic view of the layers used in the construction of the mass-produced spas of this invention. The physical aspects will be described presently but the process will be described supra. Thus, spa 50 has as its main layers a vacuum formed acrylic layer 51, and a fibreglass buildup layer 52 with a preferably vinyl film layer 53 adhered to the acrylic layer's reverse side, and therefore it is deemed to be interposed between the fibreglass and the acrylic. The front face side of the vinyl containing indicia is coated with the adhesive which is designated 55. Here and in all of the text supra, when the word spa or spas is used, the reference equally applies to a jetted bath tub. It being understood that the difference between a spa and a jetted bath tub is the fact that the water recycling and water treatment capability of the spa is not found in the jetted bath tub. To the contrary, the tub is drained after usage while the water is retained in the spa.

[0024] In FIG. 4, for the one of a kind spa, the acrylic vacuum formed spa body 60 has the same acrylic layer as is used in the manufacture of the spa 10 or the spa 50, but here the body is designated 61. To this acrylic shape is adhered—the adhesive layer being designated 65—the vinyl film 62 which carries a printed background thereon in the manner to be described supra. Once the vinyl has been found to be adhering to the acrylic, it is hand painted with special paints to eventually become a unique one of a kind spa after the fibreglass buildup 62 is added.

[0025] The piping, plumbing, and other construction features such as the mode of fibreglass buildup and the original vacuum forming of the acrylic layer, are deemed conventional for the purposes of this invention.

[0026] In FIG. 5 a hand painted by airbrush or regular paintbrush Siamese Betta fish 73 is shown on PVC [polyvinyl chloride, i.e. vinyl] film 74. This fish can serve as a focal point of a spa floor and is protected from damage from the elements due to the nature of the construction employed. The fish is just indicative of the flora, fauna and other items that can be painted on the clear vinyl film as opposed to using a large printed background. Clear polyvinyl chloride film of 2 mil. seems to give excellent results, though a thicker or thinner mil. may be employed with similar suitable results.

[0027] In FIGS. 6, 7, and 8, airbrushed indicia of other typical marine life are seen. A master can be preformed by an artist and then the images are produced en masse as silkscreens on a polyvinyl chloride film base FIG. 6 depicts a stylized starfish, FIG. 7 a stylized anemone, and FIG. 8 a stylized angel fish. These figures represent just one theme of indicia that can be placed on the vinyl film layer according to the invention.

[0028] All of these indicia, may be the background such as 63 or a silk screened star fish such as 37.

THE PROCESS ASPECT

[0029] The discussion now moves to the process aspect of this invention. Reference is made to FIG. 11. The first step 115, as with the prior art is the vacuum forming of the spa body out of sheet acrylic. This first step of the invention for both the mass-produced and the individual spas is to vacuum form the sheet acrylic plastic to the desired shape in a mold. This is a conventional step in spa making. The sheets of acrylic and methacrylic resins are generally available in the marketplace.

[0030] The second step, 116, involves the sanding of the backside, the side not exposed to the user, with fine sandpaper such as 100 grit or finer, to roughen the surface slightly for better adhesion of the adhesive of the next layer.

[0031] The third step, 117, is to wash the now sanded surface with any suitable washing agent such as an alcohol-based agent, of which members include isopropyl and ethyl alcohol, among others; these being named because they are low in price and readily available. Alcohol is a preferred wash agent, as it does not dissolve the plastic and it volatilizes fast.

[0032] The fourth step, 118, is to air-dry the surface of the plastic. Air-drying avoids the addition of lint or dust. This is followed by a removal of the cover coat from the large self-adhesive front side coated vinyl sheets containing indicia on them and applying the vinyl film artwork to the underside of the spa body (119). These backgrounds are of no set configuration and are available in a multitude of themes. Reference is made to FIG. 9 wherein a vacuum formed acrylic spa body is seen from the underside with a large vinyl film overlay 63 adhered thereto. This vinyl film has a printed background thereon and is of a freeform shape and when applied, covers most of the formed area, i.e., the trough of the spa. The trough is defined as that part of the spa covered by water when the spa is filled. Small additional vinyl film pieces shaped like a starfish 37, can be added to locations where desired as seen here at 37 and 37A. Since the decorative material is intended to be viewed through the acrylic, it is important that the adhesive be disposed on the front face, which is the decorated face of the vinyl film having the printed background indicia thereon.

[0033] Thus, it is seen that the vinyl film can be added in large areas as a background 63 and that small area as well, such as starfish 37 seen both in FIGS. 9 and 10 can also be added to the overall appearance of the spa by the addition of vinyl film at the same time, prior to the fiberglass step.

[0034] While the addition of the vinyl film alone is intended as a basis for the preparation of a unique series of spas that can be customized even more by the addition of painted indicia, it is also within the skill of the art to prepare a custom-made one of a kind art piece spa by the application of specially created, individually tailored, vinyl films, according to this process, either with or without additional paint on the film or the acrylic spa body.

[0035] Subsequent to the application of the vinyl self-adhesive film, any bubbles that may have formed must be removed (120). This can be done by the use of a soft roller to ease the air pocket to the edge of the applied film. The removal of air bubbles is carried out using conventional techniques to the handling of decals and other self-adhesive decorative films such as Contact brand plastic decorative film which has the adhesive on the underside which is used by many homemakers.

[0036] The next step, 121, consists of the application of paint to either the applied vinyl film or directly to the vacuum formed acrylic spa body. This can be done by brush or airbrush, or even spray can as maybe desired. It is this painting step that differentiates the one of a kind spas from the mass-produced spas, because each hand decorated spa is an entity unto its own, a work of art, unique and different from all others.

[0037] The differences between FIGS. 9 and 10 lies in the addition of the painted additional decorative indicia shown in FIG. 10. Here, the owner's name, sign 68, has been hand painted over the vinyl decorative artwork while the little fish 69, of a variety different from the betta illustrated in FIG. 5, is hand painted on a decorated area without film. That is, it is painted directly upon the acrylic plastic.

[0038] Of course, there is no limit upon the imagination as to the nature of the decorative information that can be added either by hand or applied directly onto the acrylic or painted over the vinyl film as may be desired.

[0039] Research has shown that the best type of paint to use is not acrylic paint, as used by artists, but signmaker's paint as this paint is UV light resistant and can withstand heat without degradation. Signmaker's paint comes in a plethora of colors and is available at art supply stores and specialty stores nationwide. The paint may be applied as noted by various known techniques as may be desired.

[0040] Subsequent to the addition of any custom paint, as discussed infra, the next step, 122, is to seal the overlaid film and paint areas to prevent peeling. Reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 reveal the presence of a sealed layer 57, and 67 respectively having been applied prior to the fiberglass lay up step. Mention may be made of Kelly Moore™ latex paint or any latex paint which is a suitable chemical sealer that can be used as the seal coat not only to protect the paint from being chipped, but also to keep the vinyl film from peeling, and to prevent interaction between the solvents used in the fiberglass lay up with the vinyl film or paint that may have been applied. Sealers as noted above are available in the marketplace.

[0041] The next step, 123, is to apply the fibreglass to the decorated spa body using conventional industry techniques. It is within the skill of the art to determine the layout of the sheets of the fibreglass, resin, and the application thereof.

[0042] Subsequent to the fibreglass lay up, the next step, 124, involves the plumbing of the spa for the jets, skimmer, and water entry. The plumbing aspect is deemed conventional as is the attachment of the pump or pumps, therefore, no further discussion is required on these topics.

[0043] Subsequent to inspection, a “skirt”—the wood frame that holds the spa, is made for the spa, if the spa is to be used above ground. If the spa is to be put into the ground, a skirt is not needed.

[0044] It is seen that I have disclosed a method for providing aesthetically pleasing spas that differ from anything made previously. These spas can be mass-produced as discussed, by the use of the same vinyl film overlay. The spas can also be custom-made one of a kind art pieces created either with the addition of painted areas on the vinyl and/or on the uncovered acrylic spa body as well as by the use of one of a kind specially created vinyl films to be applied to the acrylic with or without paint.

[0045] While the term vinyl film has been utilized herein, such term is not intended to be limiting. Indeed, any type of self-supporting polymeric printable film capable of receiving indicia such as Saran or polyester that will adhere to acrylic, and which is suitable for the spa environment may be employed.

[0046] In the discussion herein, the thrust of the invention has been for use with spas and jetted bath tubs. The technology of this invention is also suitable for regular non-jetted bath tubs. But since their mode of use is generally for shorter periods of time than jetted tubs, the market may not be as accepting of the technology as will be the market of those who purchase spas and jetted bath tubs.

[0047] Therefore, in the claims wherever the word spa is used it is intended to equally apply to jetted bath tubs.

[0048] Since certain changes maybe made in the described apparatus without departing from the scope of the invention herein involved, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. 

I claim:
 1. An aesthetically pleasing spa or jetted bath tub comprising a spa body having a topside and an underside, which spa body has a decorative film applied to the underside thereof, and a fibreglass lay up disposed over the seal coat.
 2. An aesthetically pleasing spa comprising a spa body having a topside and an underside, which spa body has a decorative film applied to the underside thereof, a seal coat placed over the film, and a fibreglass lay up disposed over the seal coat.
 3. The spa of claim 1 wherein painted indiciums are added to at least one area of the spa body not covered by film, and the film itself.
 4. The spa of claim 1 wherein the decorative film is vinyl film.
 5. The spa of claim 1 wherein the spa body is vacuum formed acrylic plastic.
 6. The spa of claim 5 wherein further including painted indicia on at least one area of the spa body not covered by film and the film itself.
 7. An aesthetically pleasing spa or jetted bath tub comprising a vacuum formed acrylic spa body having a topside and an underside, which spa body having a decorative vinyl film adhered to at least a portion of the underside of the spa body, said vinyl film, being sealed in place by a seal coat, and a fibreglass lay up disposed against the seal coat.
 8. The spa body of claim 2 wherein painted indicia are added to at least one area of the spa body not covered by film and the film itself.
 9. A process for preparing an aesthetically pleasing spa or jetted bath tub which process comprises: a] vacuum forming a plastic sheet to create a spa body having a topside and an underside; b] applying a front surface adhesive bearing decorative film to the underside of at least a portion of the underside of the spa body; c] applying a fibreglass lay up to the spa body containing decorative film; and d] plumbing the spa unit for installation.
 10. A process for preparing an aesthetically pleasing spa or jetted bath tub which process comprises: a] vacuum forming a plastic sheet to create a spa body having a topside and an underside; b] applying a front surface adhesive bearing decorative film to the underside of at least a portion of the underside of the spa body; c] applying paint by any mode of application to at least one area of the spa body not covered by film, or to the film itself; d] applying a fibreglass lay up to the spa body containing decorative film; and e] plumbing the spa unit for installation.
 11. The process of claim 8 including the step of applying a seal coat to the film prior to the fibreglass lay up step.
 12. The process of claim 9 including the step of applying a seal coat to the film prior to the fibreglass lay up step.
 13. The spa of claim 6 wherein the paint in the paint layer is signmaker's paint.
 14. A process for preparing an aesthetically pleasing spa or jetted bath tub which process comprises: a] vacuum forming an acrylic plastic sheet to create a spa body having a topside and an underside; b] applying a front surface adhesive bearing decorative vinyl film to the underside of at least a portion of the underside of the spa body; c] optionally painting at least one portion of the underside of the spa body and the vinyl film with signmaker's paint; d] applying a fibreglass lay up to the spa body containing decorative film; and e] plumbing the spa unit for installation.
 15. The process of claim 13 further including the steps of sanding the formed underside of the spa body, washing the underside of the spa body and air-drying the spa body prior to applying a film layer thereto.
 16. The process of claim 14 further including the additional step of sealing the applied vinyl film to the spa body. 